Main Cast: Gena Rowlands, Ben Gazzara, John Cassavetes, Joan Blondell, Paul Stewart
Release Year: 1977
Country: US
Run Time: 144 minutes
Plot
John Cassavetes' Opening Night stars Gena Rowlands (Mrs. Cassavetes) as end-of-tether Broadway actress Myrtle Gordon. She is about to open in a play written by her old friend Sarah Goode (Joan Blondell), but a series of pre-show setbacks and disasters threaten to destroy not only the production but Myrtle's sanity. The actress is especially rattled when one of her staunchest fans dies in an accident. In the face of bleak reality, just how important is the old "show must go on" ethic? Supporting Gena Rowlands are such veterans of the New York-Hollywood shuttle as Ben Gazzara, Zohra Lampert, Paul Stewart, James Karen, and several friends and relatives of the principals. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
John Cassavetes, one of the film business' first truly independent directors, specialized in a kind of semi-improvised, emotionally wrenching brand of naturalism, which usually tended to polarize audiences. Opening Night, along with A Woman Under the Influence (1974) and Love Streams (1984), all starring his wife, Gena Rowlands, could be thought of as his trilogy on a woman's emotional disintegration. The loosely constructed script concerns the eagerness of the cast of a play in rehearsal to avoid confronting the lead actress about the damage her alcoholism is doing to the production. When a possibly imagined tragedy spins the actress into a sort of breakdown, no one seems to be able to help. As usual, Cassavetes gives the actors free rein, and there are some overindulgent scenes. Yet there is far more truth in this gritty film than in a year of Hollywood's output combined. Rowlands is brilliant as the actress, and her agonized ordeal becomes a powerfully moving experience. Likewise, the rest of the impressive cast, which includes Cassavetes (as her husband), Ben Gazzara, Joan Blondell, Peter Falk, and Paul Stewart, all turn in memorable performances. While possibly lacking the unified impact of A Woman Under the Influence, this is still very much a film worth seeing. ~ Michael Costello, All Movie Guide
Zohra Lampert - Dorothy Victor; Laura Johnson - Nancy Stein; John Tuell - Gus Simmons; Ray Powers - Jimmy; John Finnegan - Prop Man; Louise Fitch - Kelly; Frederick Draper - Leo; Katherine Cassavetes - Vivian; Lady Rowlands - Melva Drake; Sherry Bain - Bartender; Jimmy Christie - Shirley; Peter Falk; Angelo Grisanti - Charlie Spikes; James Karen - Newsstand Operator; Eleanor Zee - Sylvia Stein; Peter Bogdanovich; Meade Roberts - Eddie Stein
Credit
Michael Lally - Associate Producer, Booker T. Jones - Conductor, Alexandra Corwin-Hankin - Costume Designer, John Cassavetes - Director, Tom Cornwell - Editor, Bo Harwood - Composer (Music Score), Booker T. Jones - Musical Arrangement, Booker T. Jones - Musical Direction/Supervision, Bryan Ryman - Production Designer, Al Ruban - Cinematographer, Frederick Elmes - Cinematographer, Al Ruban - Producer, Sam Shaw - Producer, Bo Harwood - Sound/Sound Designer, Charlie Picerni - Stunts, John Cassavetes - Screenwriter
In the film, Broadway actress Myrtle Gordon (Rowlands) rehearses for her latest play, about a woman unable to admit that she is aging. When she witnesses the death of an adoring young fan, she begins to confront the personal and professional turmoils she faces in her own life.
